Traditionally in the automotive field as well as in similar mechanical environments, it has been found to be necessary for many reasons to test spring strengths. This is done for purposes such as checking for normal wear and tear for possible replacement of springs and, in certain environments, legal requirements necessitate that springs be tested at various frequencies to determine their capabilities. This is often done for safety reasons.
Conventionally, the springs are tested by removing them from their assemblies mounted in the larger structure such as an automobile engine, and placing them on a laboratory testing device. Each individual spring is tested in this manner. This is naturally an inefficient and time consuming procedure. Additionally, this can be very expensive since conventional type of laboratory testing devices are costly. An example is the spring tester manufactured by ACE (Atlantic Coast Engineering) of Monrovia, Md. The testers manufactured by that company are conventional standard testers in industry, such as the racing industry, and are used by both the NHRA and IHRA to check springs for legality. These devices are quite large and bulky and expensive. In general the testers are designed to test spring strength up to conventional limits such as 500-1000 pounds.
In dealing with complex and large automotive structures and similar types of machinery where many springs are employed particularly in valve type assemblies, it is naturally quite inconvenient and time consuming to have to remove each spring and take it to a laboratory for testing purposes. Accordingly, it would be very advantageous to be able to test each spring as it is mounted in position on the machinery by use of a light weight portable testing device that gives an immediate strength reading for each individual spring. A light weight inexpensive device which would achieve this purpose would be a considerable improvement over the costly laboratory devices presently in use.